rendition of the Nat King Cole song "The Christmas Song" at the 85th annual Carols by Candlelight held in Melbourne in December 2022. Acting career In 2014, Simpson made his television debut guest starring as himself in the sitcom Instant Mom. In 2015, he guest starred on the American television sitcom Cougar Town, portraying Pete, a high school student. In the same year, he booked a role in the Nickelodeon film One Crazy Cruise where he played the love interest of Kira Kosarin's character Ellie Jensen-Bauer and starred as himself. In late 2017, Simpson was cast in a supporting role in Bret Easton Ellis' thriller film, Smiley Face Killers, opposite actor Crispin Glover. In October 2018, Simpson made his Broadway musical debut when he was cast as male lead Dmitry in Anastasia, alongside John Bolton and Christy Altomare. Swimming career Junior swimming Simpson was a talented swimmer in his junior years. He trained at the Miami Swimming Club under coach Ken Nixon and won two gold medals at the 2009 Queensland Swimming Championships. Return to swimming In 2019, Simpson turned his focus from music back onto competitive swimming, joining the University of Southern California's Trojan Swim Elite team under coach Dave Salo. In October 2019, Simpson, who was competing at his first meet in nearly a decade, finished the 100 yard butterfly in 24th position out of 29 entrants with a time of 51.51. To improve his swimming technique, he trained under different coaches including two-time Olympian Brett Hawke. In December 2020, Simpson shared on social media that he had qualified for the Australian Olympic trials in the 100 metre butterfly, after having raced a time of 54.90. Simpson starred in swimming documentary Head Above Water, which highlighted his return to swimming and was released 4 June 2021 on Amazon Prime Video. In February 2023, Simpson alongside Griffith University Swimming Club teammates Mack Horton, Bowen Gough and Josh Edwards-Smith competed in the Rottnest Channel Swim finishing first in a time of 3:33:49 and setting a new team record. 2021 Australian Swimming Trials Simpson continued to show improvement in the lead up to the 2021 Australian Swimming Trials which took place in Adelaide, South Australia in June 2021. At the meet, Simpson swam a personal best time of 50.22 in the 100 metre freestyle, however failed to advance through to the finals. In the 100 metre butterfly, Simpson swam a time